I have been preparing for my next leadership training this Saturday, and this morning I was awakened with the thought of ‘Needer vs. Leader’ topic. I just finished going through the Needer style Leader (King Saul) and the Leader (King David). I have only gone through half of the text so far and I have 26 points to illustrate the bad leadership style of King Saul, of which I call the ‘Needer’.
He had to be one of the most insecure leaders I have read about in quite some time, yet I see the mistakes he made as a leader revisited in some of the leaders I’ve known over the years. My wife is a woman of few words, so when she says something from the heart I take it in. She told me a few years back, “Insecure leaders are the most ugliest and untrusting people ever.” We have had our share of insecure leadership believe me. We have suffered greatly because of it, but the crazy thing is probably we are all insecure about some things in our lives, but we can not let it affect our leadership style. Whether we lead a company, church, ministry, or even our families, we can not let our own insecurities rule us. We have to trust that God is bigger than our insecurities and will help us lead INSPITE of them.
King Saul’s insecurity was the source of all of his dysfunction. His insecurity led to a suspicious mindset that ultimately led to jealousy to the point of wanting to kill David. David was the man who delivered Israel from the Giants!!!! Hello, something is wrong with this picture. I may teach this at our next training or just blog it, I don’t know yet. If I teach this weekend I will make it available to download. I know it has really been challenging me to be a better leader just by what I have been contemplating all day.
The most important thing I’m learning in this is leading people is a gift from God and a privilege. We can not usurp our office or position for our own benefit, for if we do we have no other choice but to become a ‘Needer’. I had one of the pastors that I mentor tell me, “I would love to be the Acts church where they just gave sacrificially, and laid it at the Apostle’s feet.” I said, “I would really rather be the kind of leader that people trust so much that they would lay all of their resources down at the feet of.”
The Real U 